ONE EVENING, JUST OVER two years after our wedding, Gabriel takes me by the hand and leads me across the Westhill Castle grounds.  He hops in a golf cart with a mischievous grin on his face, nodding to the passenger’s seat.
 
“Where are you taking me?”
 
“You’ll see.” He grins.  We take off along the path toward the far end of the grounds.  Gabe weaves his way through the nature reserve, where the woods become wilder and the manicured gardens fade behind us.  We stop at a bend in the path.
 
Gabriel slides out of the golf cart and smiles at me.  He takes me by the hand and leads me through the nature reserve, all the way to a gap in the fence.  It’s completely overgrown with vines, and the fence is rusted away to nothing, as if it’s been broken for years and years.
 
“Through there?” I stare at the rusty metal, frowning.  I remember something Gabriel said to me when we first met, that he used to sneak out of the castle grounds through a gap in the fence—is this the same gap?
 
“Watch your shoulder,” Gabe says as I crawl through the opening.  He holds a curtain of vines out of the way, and then snakes through after me.
 
“Are you going to tell me what this is about?”
 
Gabriel just grins and slips his hand into mine again.  We walk through the quiet forest, listening to the crickets and nocturnal creatures. A smile drifts over my lips.  I still love walking at night, but I haven’t been out in a long time. With Flora and two young toddlers to take care of, I usually fall asleep as soon as the sun goes down.
 
Tonight is the first time in months that I’ve actually been out after dark.  The moon is full and bright, and the air smells sweet.  We pass under pine trees, and then through a patch of maple trees.  I run my fingers over a mossy tree trunk and let out a sigh.
 
“I love the forest at night,” I say.
 
Gabriel smiles.  “I love you all the time.”
 
As we wind our way through the trees, a smile quirks my lips.  I think I know where he’s taking me.  When we round the last corner and make it to the wildflower glade, I let out a soft laugh.
 
“I haven’t been out here since last year.  I’ve been so busy with the kids, I didn’t even think that the wildflowers would be in bloom.”
 
Gabe’s eyes shine in the moonlight.  His skin has an ethereal glow, and he leads me to the ruined fort at the far end of the dell.  When we get there, I notice there are candles laid out all around.  Gabe fishes a box of matches out of his pocket and lights them all.  In the center of the dilapidated walls, a blanket is laid out with a picnic basket.
 
“Madame,” Gabe says with a smile, gesturing to the blanket and cushions on the ground.
 
“Oh, Gabe.” My eyes are misting up. 
 
That’s the amazing thing about Gabriel—no matter how caught up we are in our lives at the castle, he still finds time to make me feel special.  I settle down on the mountain of pillows, staring up at the starry night.  Candles flicker all around us, and Gabriel pops a champagne bottle open.
 
He hands me a flute and touches his glass to mine.
 
“What’s the occasion?” I ask, smiling.  “What should we cheers to?”
 
Gabriel’s eyes shine.  He settles in beside me, leaning on his forearm as he watches me.  “You don’t know what today is?
 
I frown, racking my brain.  Our wedding anniversary was a couple of months ago.  Thorne’s birthday was a long time ago, Gabriel’s birthday isn’t for a few months.  Mother’s Day has already passed, as has Father’s Day.
 
Letting out a sigh, I shake my head.
 
Gabe chuckles, taking a sip of champagne.  I do the same, watching him.  I still marvel at how much he’s changed in the past few years.  The tension has left his face, and he looks younger than when I met him.  He still has the wildness in his eyes—it’ll never be tamed—but he doesn’t have the panicked edge to his movements.  He trusts more easily and laughs often.
 
Right now, he swings his bright blue eyes to me and sets his champagne flute down on a flat rock.  Taking mine from my fingers, he does the same and scoots closer to me.  I lie back on the pillows as my husband runs his fingers up my side.
 
“Tonight, my beautiful wife, is the night that our son was conceived, right here in a bed of wildflowers.”
 
My lips drop open, and heat spreads through my chest.  “How do you know it was tonight?  We had unprotected sex three times.”
 
Gabe’s eyes soften, and he cups my cheek with his hand.  “It had to be tonight.”
 
“Because of the timing?”
 
“Because of the feeling.” His hand strokes my cheek, his thumb trailing over my jaw.
 
I smile.  “I’m not sure that’s how it works, Gabe.”
 
“I know in my heart that it was here.” HIs voice is low, and it sends shivers through my body.  They tease the inside of my stomach and continue down to my toes.  Gabriel tucks a strand of hair behind my ear.  “When we made love here, I knew I was in trouble.  I fell in love with you here, and I know that we made Thorne here.  How else could he turn into such a happy kid, unless he was conceived in a moment of happiness?  The first times we had sex, it was all anger and aggression.”
 
“Hot anger and aggression.” I grin.  I hook my fingers into his waistband.
 
“Yes, it was hot.  But here…” He nods to the field of wildflowers, softly swaying in the night wind. “…this is where I fell in love with you.”
 
My heart feels too big for my chest.  It presses against my ribs, thumping against my bones as I try to take a full breath.
 
Gabriel—my husband, my prince, my love—leans over me and presses his lips to mine. His kiss is like a question, asking if I want to return it.
 
How he could still be asking me that, after all these years, I’m not sure.  I wrap my arms around his neck and pull him close, parting my lips and sweeping my tongue into his mouth.  I tangle my fingers into his hair, searing my lips to his.
 
There’s a shift in Gabriel, then, when the animal in him starts to emerge.  His body heats up, his fingers becoming rougher as they sink into my body.  He slips his hand under my shirt, leaving a trail of goosebumps wherever his skin brushes mine.
 
I sink into the pillows, spreading my knees so he can fit between them.  He rocks himself against me and I gasp, feeling his hardness over my clothing.  Gabriel kisses me hard, claiming my mouth, as his center grinds against mine.
 
Heat pours down my legs, and I arch my back toward him.  My hands scratch down his back, bunching his shirt and pulling it off over his head.  I need his body, his sex, his cock.
 
Gabriel responds by tearing my shirt off.  I mean literally tearing it.  He grabs the collar and rips in in half, letting the tattered fabric fall away. His lips are glistening from our kiss, but it’s his eyes that make my heart thump.  They darken, and he stares at my body with heady desire.  His fingers slide up my stomach, sending fire down to my toes.  They brush over my bra, slipping the straps off my shoulders. 
 
I reach behind me, trembling, to unclasp it.  When I toss it to the side, Gabriel lets out a low exhalation.  His thumbs brush over my breasts, feeling my pebbled nipples underneath.  I watch him, my chest moving with each breath.
 
Gabriel’s hips start rocking against me again as his fingers tease my breasts.  One hand stays there while he drops his lips to my nipple, dragging his teeth along it.  I tangle my fingers into his hair, staring up at the stars in the sky.  The chill of the air only makes his touch feel hotter. Goosebumps erupt across my skin, and his hands deliver the warmth that makes me burn with need.
 
“Gabe…” I whisper softly.  He growls, his lips still teasing my nipple.
 
I move gently, turning him onto his back.  His eyes flash, but he lets me guide his body to lie down.  I run my fingers over his abdomen, relishing the feeling of his muscles under my fingers.  When I kneel between his legs, Gabriel lets out a breath.
 
“My Beauty…”
 
I drop my mouth to the crotch of his jeans.  I brush my lips over his clothed cock, feeling its length and thickness through his clothes.  Gabriel growls, twirling a strand of my hair in his fingers.  His knees fall open as I brush my lips over his pants.  He watches me run my tongue over his pants and his lips fall open.
 
When I unzip his jeans, Gabriel’s cock springs up.  I shimmy his jeans down and he kicks them off, and then I run my hands up his thighs.  As I wrap my lips around his cock, warmth curls in the pit of my stomach.
 
This is my Prince.  My lover.  My everything.  Having him in my mouth like this makes me feel like the most powerful woman in the world.  I love seeing his lips fall open, his eyes close, his breath grow ragged.  I love feeling his cock pulse in my mouth, growing harder as I suck it into my mouth.
 
I even like the feeling of it hitting the back of my throat, making me gag.  I love the taste of his precum on my tongue, and the way his hand twists into my hair. 
 
I’m the one making him feel like this.  I’m the one who gets to hear the noises he’s making, who gets to deliver this pleasure to him. As I suck my husband’s cock, wetness gathers between my legs, soaking my panties through.
 
“Come here,” he commands, his voice raspy. I know he wants me to sit on his cock.  I want it too—but I’m enjoying this too much.  The pleasure is teasing my womb, the cold air in the dell making my nipples pucker as I take his cock in my mouth.
 
“I’m busy,” I say.
 
“Then touch yourself, at least.” I glance up at him, his cock still between my lips.  Gabriel’s chest heaves.  “I want you to come with my dick in your mouth.”
 
I smile, kissing the tip of his cock.  I shimmy my own pants off, and then wrap my fingers around the base of his shaft and bring my lips back to it.
 
“Let me see,” he rasps.  I’m on my knees between his legs, so I move beside him, kneeling.  With one hand, I jerk him off as the other hand slips between my folds.  His eyes stay glued between my legs, and when I insert two fingers inside myself, Gabriel’s cock throbs in response.
 
“You wet?”
 
“Dripping,” I answer.
 
“Taste yourself.”
 
Still pumping his shaft, I take my fingers out of my opening and bring them to my lips.  He watches me, exhaling, as I lick them clean.
 
“I want you to come, Jolie,” he says, his eyes dark and dangerous.  “I want you to suck me off and come while I fill your mouth with seed.”
 
His hand reaches between my legs, and I let out a moan when he slips his fingers inside me.  I wasn’t kidding when I said I was dripping wet for him.  He groans when he feels my desire, slowly dragging his fingers in and out of me.
 
I lean down over his cock again, sucking the tip between my lips.  His thumb finds my clit, and I moan over his crown as he pleasures me. With every movement of his thumb over my clit, I take his cock deeper in my mouth.  My hands splay over him as his hips start to rock against me.
 
His fingers curl inside me as his thumb circles around my clit, and the heat building in the pit of my stomach is almost too much to bear. I can feel the orgasm building, slowly, torturously. I moan, taking his thick cock deep into my mouth.  His fingers tangle into my hair as his other hand works magic between my legs.
 
I grind against his fingers, moaning.  His hips buck and he fills my mouth with his cock, making my eyes water as it hits the back of my throat.  I grunt, he grunts, and I come.
 
It hits me all at once, intensely and blindingly.  I moan, the sound muffled by his length, sucking it deeper down my throat as my back arches.  He feels the orgasm explode, moaning as his fingers tease every ounce of pleasure from my body.
 
“Come on my fingers,” my Prince growls, rubbing my clit and driving his fingers inside me.  He gasps, holding my head as his cock throbs.
 
The heat coursing through my veins burns my body.  It imprints Gabriel onto my veins, marking me with the pleasure he delivers. I close my eyes as tears fill them, fireworks sparking down through my thighs all the way to my toes.
 
I moan again, louder this time, as my back arches and my orgasm reaches its peak.  My whole body contracts, and the Prince drives his fingers deeper inside me.  His other hand curls into my hair, his abs tense, and his balls tighten.
 
When the first spurts of cum land on my tongue, another wave of pleasure crashes through my womb.  I don’t know why.  I don’t know why the thought of him orgasming does this to me, or why the taste of his cum makes me come again—but it does.
 
I squeeze my thighs against his hand, rocking his palm over my clit as he fills my mouth with ropes of seed.  When he relaxes, I swallow and wipe my mouth on the back of my hand.  I sit back on my heels and exhale, staring up at the sky as the last few shivers course through my body.
 
Even in the cool breeze, I’m burning up.  I reach for a glass of champagne and have a sip, closing my eyes for a moment.  When I open them again, Gabriel is staring at me through hooded eyelids.
 
“That’s not what I was planning when I brought you here,” he grins.
 
“No?” I ask, settling in next to him.  “What were you planning?”
 
He throws a blanket over the two of us and lies on his side, stroking my cheek.  “I was thinking the opposite.  I’ve been fantasizing about eating you out all day.  I wanted to lay you down and make you come, and then I wanted to fuck you under the stars. I wanted to put another baby inside you tonight.”
 
“The night is young, my Prince,” I grin, sipping my champagne.  “We can still do all that, and more.”
 
I offer him the glass. He takes a drink, and then kisses me deeply.  I lay my head on his shoulder and sigh contentedly.  His strong, muscular arms hold me close, and I listen to his heartbeat slow down to a normal pace.  The crickets chirp around us, and an owl hoots somewhere in the forest.
 
“I love you,” Gabriel whispers, laying a soft kiss on my forehead.
 
I smile, nuzzling into his chest.  “I love you too, my Prince.”
 
We doze under the stars for a time, and then we make love again.  When it’s over, I smile at my husband and let out a sigh.
 
“I think you’re right about Thorne. It must have been here that he was conceived.”
 
“And what about child number four?” He slides his hand over my stomach, and I interlace my fingers with his.
 
“We’ll see,” I smile, my heart thumping.  “Flora does love being a big sister.  I wouldn’t want to disappoint her.”
 
Gabriel chuckles and kisses the tip of my nose. My heart grows, and I smile at the Prince.  The moon glows overhead, and our candles flicker around us.  We lie back in each other’s arms, and I realize that I want it to be true.  I’d love to have another baby.
 
 
THE WILDFLOWERS MUST HOLD some magic in them, because nine months later to the day, our fourth child is born.  Between Flora, Gabriela, Thorne, and now little baby Rosie, our household is full of love and laughter.  Flora even convinces Thorne to start reading with her, and Rosie seems to enjoy drawing with her father.
 
When we need a break, Gabriel and I go to the wildflower clearing and stare up at the stars.  It’s a peaceful existence, and it’s exactly what we both need to soothe our souls.